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NEWS & LETTERS, APRIL 2003
Memphis debunks power of duct tape
Memphis, Tenn.--On Saturday, March 8, about 20
neighborhood people and environmental justice activists came together at a house
in the Crump neighborhood, a Black neighborhood in north Memphis. We were there
to test out the "shelter-in-place" technique that the chemical
companies in the neighborhood say will save people in the event of a chemical
disaster. Eerily, this technique is exactly what the Office of Homeland Security
has been telling us to do in the event of a terrorist biological or chemical
attack: to have lots of plastic sheet and duct tape on hand and seal all
windows, doors, and vents to block outside air from coming in. The Concerned Citizens of Crump Neighborhood Association
and the Sierra Club had already put out a flyer that said, "Duct Tape &
Plastic, Emergency Quackery." We were there to give a demonstration
to the press of exactly how effective shelter-in-place is during an emergency. A
hypothetical scenario was planned in which a train derails on the main track
that runs through the community. This train contains liquefied propane and
begins to leak, catches fire, and explodes. A woman from the community has less
than ten minutes from the sounding of the siren to tape up all of the windows,
the door, and vents in her chosen room. If she is unsuccessful, the Grim Reaper
goes into her house and demonstrates the consequences. The woman testing out shelter-in-place said, "I was
out of breath within five minutes and I had to sit down. I only had one
window taped, but not completely airtight, the way they want you to do it. I
could never get up there to tape that vent, and I could never tape three
windows, which is where I would shelter. I couldn't tape up three windows in ten
minutes. I don't believe the average person would be able to do it. It's just a
reality that you're going to be dead if you sit up in here and tape up and wait
on somebody to come and get you." Another woman said of the situation, and of being in a
neighborhood with all exits blocked by a potential passing train, "The
chemicals have always been a big problem with us all our lives. You know, the
smell and everything like that. So we had lived with that foul odor all my
childhood, for years… When you say something, nothing's going to happen
anyway. Nothing is going to be done about it. So you'll just be talking
loud and saying nothing. Even with the railroads, when you're driving your car
down the street. I understand that some neighborhoods have a train problem.
But in here, you can wait a half hour for a train that's coming with any kind of
chemicals or anything else, you're just going to have to sit there and wait.
Over on James, they have an overpass because that is a predominately white
neighborhood." The media advisory flyer put together for this event
says it all: "Chemical emergencies can happen at any time in a neighborhood
hosting five polluting industries in less than three miles." I believe that
we showed these industries and the rest of Memphis that
"shelter-in-place" really is a poor excuse for a safety measure. --Participant |
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